Maxis inspires innovative, forward-thinking Malaysians
KUALA LUMPUR: Following roadshows and months of hard work from innovative and creative talents across Malaysia, 20 finalists pitched their solution prototypes to a panel of industry judges at the Maxis IoT Challenge Pitch Day.
The top three winners are expected to receive cash prizes of RM15,000, RM10,000 and RM5,000 respectively, as well as mentoring support for promising pitches.
Present at the event curtain raiser in Kuala Lumpur was Sim Tze Tzin, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Agro-based Industry, who was accompanied by Gokhan Ogut, Maxis’ chief executive officer.
“As a nation, we need to realise the huge potential of IoT technology towards our aspirations of positioning Malaysia as a premier regional IoT development hub.
“The use of technologies like IoT is especially critical for the agriculture sector, namely the agro-food and industrial commodity sub sectors, which continue to be vital to the country.
“We are fortunate that in this era of the Internet and with the immense power of technologies like IoT, we have the opportunity to transform and modernise agriculture into a high-income and sustainable sector. I am pleased see Maxis taking the initiative to create awareness and open up opportunities for greater IoT adoption for all Malaysian businesses, and for taking important steps in championing Industry 4.0 initiatives in the country,” said Sim.
“The Maxis IoT Challenge Pitch Day was a celebration of creativity and innovation, and today marks the culmination of all the hard work that has been put in by all the participants. For us, it was exciting to see the Challenge unlocking potential on two fronts – of the participants as well as the technology. At Maxis, we remain committed to accelerating the benefits of IoT adoption through such initiatives and solid partnerships. Congratulations to all the finalists who have made it this far, and to the winners of this Challenge whose innovative ideas today could spark waves of positive change and impact entire communities in Malaysia in the future,” said Gokhan.
The day-long event comprised a panel session entitled ‘Impacting Industries with IoT, in which Sim participated, as well as two tech talk sessions on smart cities and innovation through IoT. There were also an exciting showcase of IoT solutions by the Challenge finalists, Maxis and solutions partners, featuring use cases around Smart Cities, Manufacturing and Agriculture.
The Maxis IoT Challenge is a partnership with Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) to promote the ecosystem development of IoT solutions among companies to spur the Malaysian digital economy. It is the first of many joint initiatives that Maxis is undertaking to foster innovation for all Malaysians.
During the Pitch Day, the 20 finalists who were shortlisted in July will be given five minutes each to pitch their ideas and prototypes to a panel of industry judges from Maxis, MDEC, Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC), Microsoft, Cisco Systems and IJM Corporation Bhd.
As a nation, we need to realise the huge potential of IoT technology towards our aspirations of positioning Malaysia as a premier regional IoT development hub.
Sim Tze Tzin